Reflections....again

Ah, not to be cut off,
not through the slightest partition
shut out from the law of the stars.
The inner-what is it?
If not intensified sky,
hurled through with birds and deep
with the winds of homecoming.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Reflections on The Modern Wing of The Art Institute Of Chicago

Spectacular is not a strong enough word to describe the new Renso Piano's addition of the Art Institute of Chicago.
It is totally awe inspiring! A must see. The building, the light, the space, the art ...you will be walking two feet off the ground after your visit and it is great excuse to drop in on the Windy City. Here are a few pix I took the other night...







Jeff Coons, Women in Tub, 1988




I was blown away by the very considered placement of the art. The marble sculpture of Jean Arp so beautifully compliments the Joan Miro painting.




So totally Chicago...

Aleksandar Hermon

Was reading the New York Times today and ran across an article about the writer, Aleksandar Hermon. The full article is HERE. I was really intrigued and went online to learn he was giving a reading in Chicago this afternoon. After planting a few tomato plants I headed down to the Book Cellar and heard Aldksandar Hermon read from his just released (today) book, Love and Obstacles.

I was blown away...

One of the many moving passages was from The Noble Truths of Suffering, short story, one in which the narrator is invited to meet a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Now I ask you, what creative person has not pondered the following...

"When he was young, like me, he said he used to think that all the great writers knew something he didn't. He thought that if he read their books they would teach him something, make him better; he thought he would acquire what they had: the wisdom, the truth, the wholeness, the real shit. He was burning to write, he wanted to break through to that fancy knowledge, he was hungry for it. But now he knew that that hunger was vainglorious; now he knew that writers knew nothing, really; most of them were just faking it. He knew nothing. There is nothing to know, nothing on the other side. There was no walker, no path, just walking. This was it, whoever you were, wherever you were, whatever it was, and you had to make peace with that fact....
"This?" I asked. "What is 'this'?"
"This. Everything."

Another reading in Chicago is tomorrow, Monday, May 18, 12:30 PM, Borders on State Street (150 N. State St.)

The Overwhelming ~ A Must See

If you saw Ruined (which travelled to NYC) and liked it, The Overwhelming presented by The Next Theater Company is a MUST. They just extended the show until May 30.

"With his tenure at risk, Professor Jack Exley uproots his family from Illinois to Rwanda on the eve of the genocide to interview a mysterious doctor about his AIDS treatment program. When the doctor vanishes without a trace, the family finds itself lost in sea of changing stories and shifting alliances. A hit in London in 2006 and off-Broadway in 2007, The Overwhelming is a potent, gripping drama about the challenges facing a progressive American in a foreign country on the brink of disaster."

It raised so many questions, thoughts and discussion. One of the better plays I have seen this year. So happy they extended it.

This is a two for one because opening tomorrow at the Noyes Cultural Art Center is the work of Chicago photographer, Ursula Sololowska. I have admired her work from afar and it was great to see it up close and personal.

Ursula Sokolowska, Untitled No. 32 ©2006

Ursula Sokolowska's Artist statement

"This work examines the trauma and uncertainty carried from childhood. In particular, I am referencing my own upbringing as a Polish immigrant. There is an undercurrent of helplessness and misdirection linked to a sort of schizophrenic parenting, excommunication, and constant movement. Typically, the perception of children handed down by my elders was that children did not have a choice. Frequently, I heard a Polish equivalent of the phrase “Children should be seen not heard”. I am attempting to give these children voices.

These photographs are projection-based installations. The models are mannequins and their faces are projections. The faces of the children are slides that my father took of me when he was still involved in my life. The other slides are present day images that I have shot of my mom, my dad, and myself. My goal is to reconstruct my own childhood, empowering the past for better or for worse. The result is a troubling recreation of events that may seem disturbing but are far less in context to the real events that transpired."

Ursula Sokolowska Untitled No. 65©2006

NYT architecture review of Renzo Piano's Unveiling in Chicago

Michelle Litvin for The New York Times

Everyone I have spoken to who has visited the new Morton Wing addition of the Art Institute of Chicago say it is truly breathtaking. It opens to the public on Saturday.

The following is from an article by NICOLAI OUROUSSOF of the New York Times, published: May 13, 2009

"But it is the light that most people will notice. Mr. Piano has been slowly refining his lighting systems since the mid-1980s, when he completed his design for the Menil Collection building in Houston. Over the years these efforts have taken on a quasi-religious aura, with curators and museum directors analyzing the light in his galleries like priests dissecting holy texts.

At the Art Institute Mr. Piano has stripped the system down to its essence. The glass roof of the top-floor galleries is supported on delicate steel trusses. Rows of white blades rest on top of the trusses to filter out strong southern light; thin fabric panels soften the view from below.

The idea is to make you aware of the shifts in daylight — over the course of a visit, from one season to another — without distracting you from the artwork, and the effect is magical. On a clear afternoon you can catch faint glimpses through the structural frame of clouds drifting by overhead. But most of the time the art takes center stage, everything else fading quietly into the background.

It is this obsessive refinement that raises Mr. Piano’s best architecture to the level of art. In an age with few idealists, he exudes a touching faith in the value of slow, incremental progress. He has never fully abandoned the belief that machines can elevate as well as destroy.

The beauty of his designs stems from his stubborn insistence that the placement of a column or a window, when done with enough patience and care, brings us a step closer to a more enlightened society."

Wow

Fiona 1995 - 2009

I am writing about Fiona because she is weighing on my mind. She was a companion for 12 of her 14 years. (With all the traveling I have done in the past few years, we decided to have her live with a family more rooted in the day to day).

Six months ago the two families met to discuss concerns about her aging. We decided that when the time came to euthanize her, we would do it in the most comfortable way possible. Having spent time with hospice and thinking a lot about death and dying, it was important to me to midwife Fiona to the other side in the most loving, gentle way possible.

Compassionate Veterinary Care came highly recommended by our regular vet. Dr. Shanan was one of the most extraordinary people I know. When he entered the living room, Fiona barked briefly at him. Then he got on all fours and allowed Fiona to befriend him. It was an extraordinary sight to see them bond so immediately. Dr. Shanan then explained that Fiona would receive 2 injections, one a tranquilizer and the second would be phenobarbital.

She was surrounded by loved ones, holding and touching her. It was very calm and peaceful. (I asked Fiona to forgive me of my shortcomings in caring for her and to let me know what it was like on the other side). She drifted into a twilight sleep with the first shot and slipped away by the time the second shot was fully administered. As her bladder muscles gave out, she urninated on our rug once again, for old times sake. I must admit, I did not mind and actually found it humorous.



We then fully wrapped her in a sheet that she had slept on for many a night and proceeded to the corner of our backyard, where we had dug a opening in the ground. We gently placed her in the hole and took turns covering her with the soil. Flower and evergreen plants were then planted.

It was the most respectful, loving procedure of letting go of Fiona that I could have imagined. I miss her....she taught me a lot about absolute love and loyalty.

NYAXE Gallery Representation Winner ~ May 21, 2009 Exhibit

From myartspace.com blog

Congratulations to the www.myartspace.com artists selected for representation at the NYAXE Gallery. 3 artists-- Jane Fulton Alt, Leah Tomaino, and Miles Holbert, will have their work physically represented at the gallery. 17 others will be represented digitally.



Jane Fulton Alt

NYAXE Gallery is located at 818 Emerson St. in Palo Alto, CA. The represented members were chosen from a selective-- ongoing --competition that allows members of the myartspace.com community to compete for NYAXE Gallery representation. The gallery serves as a bridge between the online and physical art world.
The NYAXE Gallery in Palo Alto, CA marks myartspace.com as one of only a few social art sites to have a physical presence in the form of a brick & mortar gallery-- as well as the only online art community to have a physical gallery presence in the heart of Silicon Valley. The NYAXE Gallery places myartspace.com members art within reach of some of the most powerful-- and wealthy-- professionals in the United States.

New Work ~ The Burn ~ Opens Tomorrow

The Burn series evolved from my ongoing interest in life cycles. For the past two years I have accompanied restoration ecologists on their prescribed burns in nature preserves and prairies. These controlled burns imitate naturally occurring fires by removing accumulated dead vegetation and releasing seeds from dormancy. By opening the woodlands to more sunlight, the fires prepare the soil for new spring growth, and the cycle of renewal continues.

Wall Space Gallery
358 Richmond Road
Ottawa, Ontario

I will also have images from last years burn in addition to some of my Pool chiffon images in the exhibition. I will post installation images as I receive them.

If you don't happen to be in Ottawa this weekend for the opening, a piece from the collection will be auctioned off at the Evanston Art Center Annual Fundraiser on May 16.

Thank You Frida Kahlo

I had the privilege of visiting Frida Kahlo's home in Mexico City in 2005 while on a staff trip with Chicago chef Rick Bayless. I was so excited about going there and had all these preconceived ideas about photographing the space, only to learn that no one was allowed to photograph inside the home. I did, however, make a few images in the garden.


What really peaked my interest and curiosity was how Frida Kahlo embedded ceramic vessels along the outside of the house, I am assuming to attract nesting birds.


I spent time gardening this past weekend, watching and listening to the many birds that passed thru my garden. I then realized that I could try to create a nesting area, similar to what Kahlo did, only on our garage. I have yet to know whether any of the local birds will be drawn to making their homes in these baskets but it sure is fun to anticipate the possibility!

Art and Empty Store Fronts

Returning home last night after viewing Art Chicago left me with a host of thoughts. It was very stimulating to see so much art, some of it wonderful and some of it leaving me wondering why they bother. The scene felt very subdued compared to the hussle and bussle and of last year ( they had 5 shows last year instead of the 3 of this year). I missed the Artist Project, where I had exhibited the past 2 years but was happy to have the time to take in other artists' work.

I have had a keen awareness of all the empty store fronts in my community as a result of the downturn in the economy. On the drive home I was thinking of all those empty stores and all the artists I know who would love to have their work seen and how it would feel, as a pedestrian, to walk past a window of wonderful art verses a sorry reminder of our economic woes.

I contacted the chair of the Evanston Arts Council this morning and guess what! I got and email stating,"...We actually are embarking on that project as we speak.... and should have Evanston artists work in the Orrington/Church area within the next month or so." How thrilling is that!



I would urge you to fill your empty neighborhood storefronts with art...a win ~ win for everyone involved.

First 100 Days

The marking of Barack Obama's First 100 days is a good segue into an upcoming exhibit, The Night Hope Won, opening May 8th. A fellow Chicago photographer, Doug McGoldrick, put out a call for images that were taken at Grant Park election night. I was there, and of course, had my camera with me. So I responded, sent him some of the work and am included in the exhibit along with Suzette Bross, Patty Carroll, Peter Barreras, Jennifer Greenburg, Jason Lazarus, Jay Wolke,Roark Johnson, Jeremy Lawson, Chester Costello, Richard Lesh, David Wittig, Ricky Havlik, Nancy Beale, Stephen Vallera, and Julia Clark. The first showing will be in Cleveland, Missisippi. I have hopes that the work will be exhibited at a venue closer to Chicago too.

Doug has published the book on Blurb and created a blog on the exhibit.
I still marvel that our country has such an amazing person at the helm!

Trouble the Water ~ A MUST SEE

"...one of the best American documentaries in recent memory." -- Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Just watched Trouble the Water on HBO and was blown away by its immediacy and honesty. It is by far the best film I have seen on Katrina. I couldn't help but wonder how things would have turned out differently with Barack Obama in office.
My heart aches for all the unnecessary suffering that was caused by indifference in the Bush Oval office.

The Tragedy of it All ~ Chicago Tribune lays off more staff

Including Alan Artner....how could that be?
What little reporting they did on the visual arts was covered by Alan Artner for I don't know how many years.
Incredible loss for our city.

Here is the more complete list from Michael Miner of the Reader...I am shocked, angry and saddened. My heart aches for these staff and for our great city.

Mary L. Dedinsky, Web Editor, Metro
Russell Working, General Assignment Reporter/Writer, Oak Brook Bureau
Susan Diesenhouse, Real Estate Feature Writer
Josephine Napolitano, General Assignment Reporter/Writer, Tinley Park Bureau.
Eric Benderoff, Technology Reporter, Financial News
David Trotman-Wilkins, Staff Photographer
Candice Cusic, Staff Photographer
John Smierciak, Staff Photographer
Charles Cherney, Staff Photographer
William Grady, Deputy Bureau Chief, Schaumburg Bureau
Beth Botts, Garden Writer, House & Homes
Robert K. Elder, Reporter, Live
Lou Carlozo, Reporter, Smart
Brenda Butler, Assistant Editor, Chicago Tribune Magazine
Lilah Lohr, Assistant Books Editor
Jessica Reaves, Reporter, Chicago Tribune Magazine
Tom Hundley, Reporter, Chicago Tribune Magazine
Susan Kuczka, General Assignment Reporter/Writer, Vernon Hills Bureau
Storer Rowley, National Editor
James P. Miller, Corporate Strategy and Manufacturing Reporter, Financial News
Carolyn Starks, General Assignment Reporter/Writer, Crystal Lake Bureau
Melissa Isaacson, Specialist Reporter, Sports
Alan Artner, Art Critic, A&E
Bob Sakamoto, High School Sports Reporter
Suzanne Cosgrove, Assistant Editor, House & Homes
Elaine Matsushita, Editor, House & Homes
John Mullin, Reporter, Sports
Terry Bannon, Illinois Basketball/Football Reporter, Sports
Joshua Boak, Business Reporter
Patrick Reardon, Reporter, Live!

AND ALSO...

Geoff Black, Photo Editor, Features
Bradley Piper, Senior Producer, Editorial Multimedia
Kristin Morris, Assistant Design Editor, Sports
Thomas Carkeek, Associate Subject Editor, Sports
Bonnie Trafelet, Staff Photographer
Timothy J. Horneman, Assistant Subject Editor, Metro
Bob Vanderberg, Assistant High School Sports Editor
Ed Cavanaugh, Assistant Copy Editor, Sports
Richard Rothschild, Assistant Copy Editor, Sports
Keith Swinden, Picture Editor, Sports
Robert Ohap, Assistant Subject Editor, News Editing
Dimitry Tetin, Assistant Subject Editor, Presentation
Marty Fischer, Assistant Subject Editor, Metro Copy Desk
Lucy Hoy, Assistant Subject Editor, Metro Copy Desk
Min Pak, Imaging Technician
Thomas Van Dyke, Staff Photographer
William L. Avorio, Multi-Media Imaging Technician

And...

DeVona Alleyne, Newsdesk

Earth Day and the Pacific Garbage Patch

I have blogged before about Chris Jordan. I first became familiar with his work at the Houston Center for Photography where we were in a group exhibition about Katrina. Chris was a lawyer and decided to turn his efforts to changing the world thru art. His work is very, very compelling.

Gyre, is an 8′ x 11′ triptych based on the famous Japanese painting, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai. Instead of paint, the colors are composed of 2.4 million pieces of plastic - the estimated number of pounds of plastic that enter the world’s ocean’s every hour! Gyre is named after the Pacific Gyre, a thousand miles wide ocean current which turns clockwise like a giant slow-motion whirlpool and concentrates tons of the world’s trash.


All of the plastic in the image was collected from the Pacific Ocean. The following images are zoomed in to give perspective.




Jordan states on his website, "So my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. It may not be the most comfortable terrain, but I have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake. "

Chicago Cultural Center Openings this Friday ~ Dave Jordano, Eleanor Spiess -Ferris and Jed Fielding

Interesting openings on Friday night (April 17th) on the first floor of the Chicago Cultural Center.

Dave Jordano is having a book signing for his work on Articles of Faith. I blogged about his work earlier and heard him speak last week. Would love to visit some of the churches in his photographs.

Entrance ~ Dave Jordano

Eleanor Spiess Ferris's opening is in the next gallery, Sorrows of Swans. Her paintings are fantastic, dreamy and surreal. Would love to more fully inhabit her world as the magical qualities in her work are so appealing. I first got to know Eleanor at the Evanston Art Center where I took several of her drawing/painting classes. She is a great person and a wonderful teacher. I would whole heartedly recommend taking a class of hers if you ever have the opportunity. Even better yet, buy a painting!



And the third opening just steps away is Jed Fielding's portraits of blind people from Mexico City. The work is haunting and disturbing. I think he is having a book signing too.



Look at Me ~ Jed Fielding

Tomorrow Opening at DePaul University Art Museum

Albert Chong
Cousin Shirley, 1986
Chromogenic color print

A very interesting show is opening tomorrow night (Thursday) at the DePaul University Art Museum, Double Exposure:African Americans Before and Behind the Camera. The exhibit "presents historic early photographs side by side with photo-based works by contemporary African American artists. While early photographers pushed the boundaries of the medium to represent a Black world of hope and dignity, contemporary artists celebrate and extend that legacy, engaging in a dialogue about the nature of memory and photographic representation in relation to personal history." Deborah Willis, professor and chair at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, will be giving a lecture tomorrow, Thursday, April 16th at 4pm with an opening reception to follow. Guaranteed to be a worthwhile visit.

On Brian Ulrich

Long overdue.
Brian Ulrich's work has been consistently recognized. His name keeps resurfacing for well deserved awards including the most recent 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship in photography.

© Chicago, Il 2003 Brian Ulrich

Look Familiar?

© Chicago, Il 2003 Brian Ulrich

"In 2001 in response to a national call for citizens to bolster the American economy through shopping, Ulrich began a project to document consumer culture. This project, Copia, is a series of large scale photographs of shoppers, retail spaces, and displays of goods. Initially focused on big-box retail establishments and shoppers, the series expanded to include thrift stores, back rooms of retail businesses, art fairs and most recently empty retail stores and dead malls." from wikipedia

Chicago Place Mall 2009 © Ulrich


There are certainly an abundance of empty store fronts to photograph now. I feel like his work is incredibly timely, well seen and shows history in the making. Thank you Brian!


Value City 2008 © Ulrich

Good Friday in Chicago

If you are looking on how to celebrate Good Friday and you live in Chicago, head over to Pilsen for a re-enactment of Jesus as the Way of the Cross. It is very dramatic as thousand of the faithful take part in the annual Good Friday Procession. I started photographing it 12 years ago. I am happy to say I have given up trying to capture it on film and just enjoy being part of the crowd.





It usually begins at 9am in front of the church at 18th and Halsted. There is a service in a neighborhood church after the procession. Following that it is always a treat to stop at a local eatery for a hot cup of champurrado, a delicious drink of masa, milk, water, mexican chocolate and piloncillo.

On Tightrope Walking and Balance ~ Janine Antoni

What I love most about this video is Janine Antoni's take on being in and out of balance.
"... After about a week I started to feel like I'm now getting my balance. I started to notice that it wasn't that I was getting more balance but that I was getting more comfortable with being out of balance...."

In Treatment ~ Second season tonight on HBO

Couch No.3

I love this TV series...not just because I happen to be in the field but also because it is so well done. If you ever wondered what it was like to be in therapy, this gives you a pretty good insight. The acting is fab and the stories are very compelling. There was a nice article in the New York Times this morning on the series. Also, you can get the first 3 months of HBO for free! Worth signing up!


Talking No. 3

I had a really good time, a year ago, doing an installation for The Artist Project in which I recreated my office and lined the walls with photographs from this series.



It was the second time in my photographic career in which I melded my social work and photography professions. What I have gleaned from this experience is that as an artist, the subject matter chosen that is often most compelling is that in which the artist has an intimate knowledge of, or is very passionate about. Come to think of it, why would one spend time on subject matter that you were luke warm about!